press release

Daughter of VMDO Architect named All-American sailor at Yale

Nothing but smooth sailing for Hannah Oakland

By Sean McLernon

The Daily Progress

December 5 , 2006 – Zack Leonard couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he read Hannah Oakland’s first e-mail to him in the summer of 2003.

The Yale-bound Western Albemarle graduate wrote to the varsity sailing coach expressing her interest to join the team, but was concerned that she may be too small.

Little did the slight Oakland (5-foot-2, 120 pounds) know that in college sailing, the lighter the better for the crew position.

Her athletic experience (Oakland ran cross country at Western) made the incoming freshman even more appealing as a candidate, and Leonard made sure to get back to Oakland quickly as well as clear her to compete at the varsity level before she even arrived in New Haven, Conn.

As it turned out, her ideal build was matched by her intellectual aptitude and eagerness to learn.

In just her third season, she earned All-America status and helped propel the Yale women’s team to a top-two national ranking for most of the spring. She was the only member of the 2005-06 All-American teams to enter college competition as a novice and has the Bulldogs contending for a national title this season.

“All the kids that we deal with are quite bright, but she is exceptionally so,” Leonard said of Oakland. “There aren’t many tasks that she can’t figure out.”

In college sailing, there are two people on each 14-foot boat during competition - a skipper and a crew. The skipper steers the boat and controls the large sail in the back while the crew is responsible for the smaller sail in the front.

Oakland was assigned the crew position because of her slight build - which helps keep the weight to a minimum so the boat can go faster - and paired with freshman skipper Matthew Barry early on to get her feet wet.

Within a month, Leonard realized that he had a special talent on his hands.

The then-freshman dove into the challenge early in her career, constantly asking questions of her skippers and coaches. She had sailed with her father in a keel boat during a few summers in Annapolis, but she found college competition to be a totally new experience.

“She was able to quite quickly figure out how it was supposed to feel, mimic the movements of others and refine those from there,” Leonard said.

Fresh off four years of running for Western, Oakland quickly discovered that sailing took a completely different set of abilities to succeed. Thinking quick on her feet and adjusting on the fly became the most important skills in a sport where finding the most effective path to sail and getting the best angle on that path play the biggest roles in determining a winner.

“It’s an intellectual challenge,” Oakland said. “Each race is kind of like a little problem to be unpacked.”

Oakland hasn’t been able to tear herself away from the sport since her first day on the Yale campus.

“I find it really addicting,” Oakland said. “I think there are few people who would not find it really addicting. I can’t really imagine anything more charmed than being able to sail every day.”

After two years with Barry, Oakland was paired with Yale’s top female skipper, Molly Carapiet. A successful regular season in which both sailors earned All-America status ended with a disappointing 13th-place finish at nationals.

With Carapiet graduated, Leonard decided to again pair Oakland with the team’s top female skipper, this time Emily Hill. The Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 2 in the country behind only St. Mary’s, and Leonard feels good about his team’s prospects.

“That pairing gives us a chance to win the women’s nationals,” Leonard said. “We have a very good women’s team and we’re competitive with the best teams in the country. We’re in the game for the national championship. We just need to keep improving.”

With 18 races per regatta, consistency and minimizing mistakes often separate the champions from the contenders, and Oakland said her team’s ability to stay in the top six for most of the races and avoid any low finishes will be crucial late in the season.

The May race will be Oakland’s last chance to win her first national championship. She said her days of competitive sailing will most likely end with her graduation, and she wants make the most of her final months with a team she said “defined her college experience” at Yale.

“I do need to take advantage of the fact that this will be the last time I will get to see these people in this way - to spend this much time with my team every single day,” Oakland said. “I want to make sure not to take that for granted.”

VMDO Architects was founded in 1976 and is the youngest firm to receive the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects.

For further information, interview, and photography opportunities in reference to this project and VMDO Architects, please contact William Bishop at 434.296.5684, email at bishop@vmdo.com.